Thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews :D I know it's been a really long time since I updated this story. Sorry 'bout that, hope this makes up for it :D
Chapter 4
************
To a normal human, Trance's ragged breathing would have been the only sound in the now dark machine shop. Trance, however, was no human and slowly her remaining senses took up the slack for her lack of sight. She could feel the enormity of the crates piled before her, mocking her with their massive immobility. Pitched far below her racing heart and rasping breath, she could hear the muffled creaking of twisted metal deep in the bowels of the ship. She could feel subtle vibrations of that metal as it buckled futher. Her heartbeat doubled as she was just able to make out the coppery smell of blood wafting through the swirling dust and ditrius. She was concentrating so hard on picking up the smallest sensations around her, she nearly missed the barely audible groan that issued from the stack of debris. She froze, wondering if it was her imagination or merely wishful thinking. Then, from the same location she heard a brief rustling followed by another moan, followed by an unmistakeble voice muttering "Ow, oh, man...OW!"
"Harper! Are you all right?" Trance called out, her voice echoing eerily back to her through the unfathomable dark.
Seconds ticked by with no response, then a whispered, "Trance?" sent the golden woman's heart soaring.
"Yes, Haper, it's me. Don't move, I'll get you out of there as soon as I can." Trance blindly searched the area around her for anything she could use as a source of illumination. Her worry for her ship mate prevented her from concentrating enough to make her own light.
Harper coughed thickly, "What happened?"
"We were attacked. But everything's going to be ok, we're ok." Trance said, needing to convince herself of that fact. She resumed her search for material to make a torch.
"Trance?" The weak voice muffled by tons of debris was barely audible. "It hurts."
With those two words Trance's heart decided her chest was no longer a nice neighborhood and relocated to her stomach. On only one occasion could she remember Harper admitting he was in pain. Sure, he whined and put up a fuss when he burned a finger or stubbed a toe, but that was just Harper clamoring for attention, mostly *her* attention. However, Trance had noticed over the years, the worse the pain, physical or emotional, the more the young man insisted he was "good". Trance chalked this quirk in the engineer's make-up to his early years on Earth. Obviously weakness of any kind would have been lethal under such conditions as Harper was raised.
Her mind drifted back to the alternate time-line from which she came. In her past, the tesseract machine was destroyed and the Magog larvae in Harper's stomach continued to hatch. Before Trance was forced to mercifully take his life, Harper said those same two words...
"T-Trance? You still there?"
Harper's panic-laced words broke through Trance's thoughts. "Yes, I'm here, I'm going to help you, just stay calm." She tried to sound reassuring and in control but was sure that even through a meter of metal and plastic, Harper could hear the tremor in her voice.
She had come across a couple of items that looked promising, a length of pipe and a pail of thick grease that promised to burn for a long time. 'Ok,' Trance though, 'now all I need is a spark' She closed her eyes and calmed her thoughts. She concentrated all the power of her being. Soon the end of her finger once again began to glow, not gold but fire red. "Trance?"
The spark sputtered and died as her concentration was broken. "What?" Trance snapped, more harshly than she intended. She immediately felt terrible when the only sound from the pile was Harper's wheezing breaths.
"A-are you ok?" Harper whispered.
A sob nearly escaped her throat. She struggeld with a sudden sense of hopelessness. The weight of the situation pressed down on her like invisible hands. How could she have let this happen? Were the others still alive? How would she find them? How would she get Harper out from under a ton of mangled machine parts? 'One step at a time' she thought to herself. Galliantly she pushed the sob down past the 'for rent' sign in her chest, down to become roommates with her heart in the pit of her stomach. "I'm ok Harper, just tired."
"You should rest." Harper suggested, sounding as if it were the most logical thing in the world. For all she knew it was, after all, wasn't that what she always told him when he was sick or hurt or frustrated or angry?
"Not until I have you out of there." She said to disembodied voice of her friend.
"Uh, Trance?"
"Yeah?"
"Out of where?"
Trance blinked as the realization hit her, due to the complete lack of light, Harper didn't know he was burried under a mountain of twisted metal. 'Keep him calm' Trance thought frantically. "Harper, there's no need to panic..."
"Trance, whenever someone says that to me, it's always followed by a perfect reason TO panic!" Harper's breathing became even more labored, gurgling as if he was trying to breathe underwater through a leaky straw.
"Harper." Trance barked, this time her voice harsh on purpose. "Everything will be ok but you need to stay calm. When we were attacked, this part of the ship was hit hard. Do you remember all the crates that were piled up in here?"
"Y-yes."
"Well, the crates got knocked around a lot and piled up everywhere..." Trance trailed off, as she tried to find the most delicate way to break the situation to him.
The engineer, genius that he was, figured it out for himself. "I'm trapped?" Harper's words were laced with fear. "I'm b-burried alive?" Trance heard muffled scraping sounds as Harper tried to free himself. "Oh god, Trance, I gotta get outa here!"
"Harper don't move!" Trance yelled, "The crates are very unstable, you could cause them to..." With a creak and a groan the pile shifted. An avalanche of insulation, machine parts and their containers raced toward the gold woman. Her screams mingled with Harper's, echoing around the machine shop long after the two beings were silenced.
****
tbc
Chapter 4
************
To a normal human, Trance's ragged breathing would have been the only sound in the now dark machine shop. Trance, however, was no human and slowly her remaining senses took up the slack for her lack of sight. She could feel the enormity of the crates piled before her, mocking her with their massive immobility. Pitched far below her racing heart and rasping breath, she could hear the muffled creaking of twisted metal deep in the bowels of the ship. She could feel subtle vibrations of that metal as it buckled futher. Her heartbeat doubled as she was just able to make out the coppery smell of blood wafting through the swirling dust and ditrius. She was concentrating so hard on picking up the smallest sensations around her, she nearly missed the barely audible groan that issued from the stack of debris. She froze, wondering if it was her imagination or merely wishful thinking. Then, from the same location she heard a brief rustling followed by another moan, followed by an unmistakeble voice muttering "Ow, oh, man...OW!"
"Harper! Are you all right?" Trance called out, her voice echoing eerily back to her through the unfathomable dark.
Seconds ticked by with no response, then a whispered, "Trance?" sent the golden woman's heart soaring.
"Yes, Haper, it's me. Don't move, I'll get you out of there as soon as I can." Trance blindly searched the area around her for anything she could use as a source of illumination. Her worry for her ship mate prevented her from concentrating enough to make her own light.
Harper coughed thickly, "What happened?"
"We were attacked. But everything's going to be ok, we're ok." Trance said, needing to convince herself of that fact. She resumed her search for material to make a torch.
"Trance?" The weak voice muffled by tons of debris was barely audible. "It hurts."
With those two words Trance's heart decided her chest was no longer a nice neighborhood and relocated to her stomach. On only one occasion could she remember Harper admitting he was in pain. Sure, he whined and put up a fuss when he burned a finger or stubbed a toe, but that was just Harper clamoring for attention, mostly *her* attention. However, Trance had noticed over the years, the worse the pain, physical or emotional, the more the young man insisted he was "good". Trance chalked this quirk in the engineer's make-up to his early years on Earth. Obviously weakness of any kind would have been lethal under such conditions as Harper was raised.
Her mind drifted back to the alternate time-line from which she came. In her past, the tesseract machine was destroyed and the Magog larvae in Harper's stomach continued to hatch. Before Trance was forced to mercifully take his life, Harper said those same two words...
"T-Trance? You still there?"
Harper's panic-laced words broke through Trance's thoughts. "Yes, I'm here, I'm going to help you, just stay calm." She tried to sound reassuring and in control but was sure that even through a meter of metal and plastic, Harper could hear the tremor in her voice.
She had come across a couple of items that looked promising, a length of pipe and a pail of thick grease that promised to burn for a long time. 'Ok,' Trance though, 'now all I need is a spark' She closed her eyes and calmed her thoughts. She concentrated all the power of her being. Soon the end of her finger once again began to glow, not gold but fire red. "Trance?"
The spark sputtered and died as her concentration was broken. "What?" Trance snapped, more harshly than she intended. She immediately felt terrible when the only sound from the pile was Harper's wheezing breaths.
"A-are you ok?" Harper whispered.
A sob nearly escaped her throat. She struggeld with a sudden sense of hopelessness. The weight of the situation pressed down on her like invisible hands. How could she have let this happen? Were the others still alive? How would she find them? How would she get Harper out from under a ton of mangled machine parts? 'One step at a time' she thought to herself. Galliantly she pushed the sob down past the 'for rent' sign in her chest, down to become roommates with her heart in the pit of her stomach. "I'm ok Harper, just tired."
"You should rest." Harper suggested, sounding as if it were the most logical thing in the world. For all she knew it was, after all, wasn't that what she always told him when he was sick or hurt or frustrated or angry?
"Not until I have you out of there." She said to disembodied voice of her friend.
"Uh, Trance?"
"Yeah?"
"Out of where?"
Trance blinked as the realization hit her, due to the complete lack of light, Harper didn't know he was burried under a mountain of twisted metal. 'Keep him calm' Trance thought frantically. "Harper, there's no need to panic..."
"Trance, whenever someone says that to me, it's always followed by a perfect reason TO panic!" Harper's breathing became even more labored, gurgling as if he was trying to breathe underwater through a leaky straw.
"Harper." Trance barked, this time her voice harsh on purpose. "Everything will be ok but you need to stay calm. When we were attacked, this part of the ship was hit hard. Do you remember all the crates that were piled up in here?"
"Y-yes."
"Well, the crates got knocked around a lot and piled up everywhere..." Trance trailed off, as she tried to find the most delicate way to break the situation to him.
The engineer, genius that he was, figured it out for himself. "I'm trapped?" Harper's words were laced with fear. "I'm b-burried alive?" Trance heard muffled scraping sounds as Harper tried to free himself. "Oh god, Trance, I gotta get outa here!"
"Harper don't move!" Trance yelled, "The crates are very unstable, you could cause them to..." With a creak and a groan the pile shifted. An avalanche of insulation, machine parts and their containers raced toward the gold woman. Her screams mingled with Harper's, echoing around the machine shop long after the two beings were silenced.
****
tbc